The official nickname for
Illinois is the Prairie State and it dates back at least as far as 1842. Most of the state was once covered with prairie grasses. Today, Illinois continues to pay homage to the prairie. According to the Illinois Compiled Statutes, Illinois has designated the third full week of September as Illinois Prairie Week "...to be observed throughout the State as a week for holding appropriate events and observances in the public schools and elsewhere to demonstrate the value of preserving and reestablishing native Illinois prairies." Illinois has been also knows with the following nicknames.
- Land of Lincoln. This name refers to Illinois as the state where Abraham Lincoln began his political career. This name is the Official State Slogan of Illinois, designated in 1955.
- The Corn State because corn plays such an important role in the state's agricultural economy.
- The Garden of the West. This old nickname came about because of the rolling prairies of Illinois.
- The Sucker State. There are a few of theories about the origin of this interesting nickname. One has it that the name was the result of a comparison between the large number of miners going to and coming from the Galena Lead Mines in 1822 and the fish. According to Malcolm Townsend, in his U.S.: An Index to the United States of America (1890), "An old miner said to them 'Ye put me in [the] mind of suckers, they do go up the river in the spring spawn, and all return down ag'in in the fall.'"
- Egypt. This nickname referred to the southern end of Illinois.